No quorum cuts meeting short

The Ironton City Council heard the first reading of four ordinances and adopted one resolution at Thursday’s regular meeting, but the lack of a quorum kept any other action from being taken.

With council members Dave Frazer and Beth Rist absent, Philip Heald, Aaron Bollinger, Bob Cleary, Craig Harvey and Kevin Waldo agreed to adjourn the meeting in less than five minutes; the amount of time it took to give the five agenda items a first reading.

Resolution 14-41, authorizing Mayor Rich Blankenship to apply for Ohio Department of Natural Resources NatureWorks funding, was adopted by council.

ODNR administers financial assistance for public recreation purposes and it was announced this past June that the Ohio General Assembly allocated $8 million for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 for local park projects.

Ordinance 14-42 closing a portion of Market Street had its first reading, as did ordinance 14-31, authorizing and directing the execution of a collective bargaining agreement between the city and AFSCME Local 771.

A special meeting of council has been scheduled for 5:45 p.m. Monday prior to a finance committee meeting to adopt ordinances 14-39 and 14-41, rescheduling the second November council meeting to 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24, because of Thanksgiving and the second December council meeting to 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 22, because of Christmas.